21st Century Classroom
1:1 and Technology Subcommittee

Expectation: The expectation from this sub-committee is that by the end of the 3rd Quarter, we will have a full recommendation on what a one-to-one environment should look like at Harlan Community Schools. This recommendation must be based not only on research, but on personal classroom experiences, experiences and lessons learned from other schools, proof-of-concept experiences, parent input, student input, community input, etc. The recommendation from this sub-committee will be presented to the HCSD school board at the 4/9/2012 board meeting. Upon board approval, the recommendation will also be presented to the Harlan Community School District staff, students, parents and other community members during subsequent scheduled meetings.


1:1 Topics/Items/Details to be considered:

  • What is the primary goal that we are trying to accomplish with 1:1?
    • Preparing students for the future?
      • What is the job market looking for?
      • What are colleges using?
    • Engaging students and Inspiring creativity?
      • Are video/audio presentations a priority?

  • What does 1:1 look like…
    • At the high school (9-12)???
    • At the middle school (6-8)???
    • At the intermediate school (3-5)???
    • At the primary school (PK-2)???
    • Special considerations for SPED students?
    • Bring your own device (BYOD)
      • What are the pros and cons of this option?
    • Consider all aspects of a 1:1 classroom
      • Computing devices (laptops, desktops, tablets, etc.)
      • Interactive white boards
      • Multi-media projectors
      • Document cameras
      • Sound systems
      • Other???

  • Should we prototype a 1:1 initiative with certain students?
    • What devices?
      • Laptops, netbooks, chromebooks, iPads, Android tablets, a combination of all listed????
      • Will need to include cases and bags to protect the devices
      • How do we ensure student ownership of the device to reduce abuse/damage/misuse?
    • Which students to include?
      • Student Council, one class for specific teachers, ???
      • MUST include some free/reduced students
    • Which teachers to involve?
      • Would like classes that involve a fair amount of writing assignments, or teachers involved will need to assign writing assignments
    • What legal issues must be considered/addressed?
      • Acceptable Use Policy – remind students/parents of their responsibilities
      • Parent approval – must get before handing out the machines
      • Misuse/damage – how to handle?
    • Peripheral devices – if not the approved for the specific product, can cause significant damage.

  • We need to schedule visits to other schools to assess their implementations
    • January 16th and March 9th would be good days to do this

  • Infrastructure
    • Wireless access in classrooms – are there any dead zones?
      • May need to have a wireless survey completed
    • Wired options – do we need to provide?
    • Bandwidth – is 35MB enough?
    • Power in classrooms – not sufficient
      • Recommendation must include this component
      • How do we see students recharging their devices?
        • Power banks in classrooms?
        • Charging stations?
    • Storage capacity on the servers
      • If video becomes a major factor, may need to increase
    • Will there be a need to access network resources from home?
    • Naming standard for student machines
    • Secure storage location

  • Mac vs. PC
    • Discuss the facts and the pros and cons of each option
    • Should a hybrid solution be used?

  • Google Docs vs. Office 365 vs. Office 2010
    • What are the pros and cons of each?
    • What other options are out there?
    • Do we want to require student to have/be provided with email accounts?

  • Mobile access – how great is the need?
    • Roaming labs
    • Hot spots on buses
    • Wireless access for those students who may not have it at home
      • 3G cellular devices?
      • Supervised building access in the evenings?

  • Learning/Classroom Management Systems
    • What are they?
    • Are they needed?
    • What vendor do we want to use?

  • Parent Buy-in/Support
    • What to communicate and when?
    • Speak Up online survey – national online survey that collects feedback from students, staff and parents on issues such as how the school district is viewed from many different perspectives, including technology use and preparedness.

  • Funding options
    • Look into the feasibility of parents covering some of the cost of the devices
      • Device fee (1%, 5%)?
        • With a buy-out option at graduation?
      • Full purchase price?
      • How to handle for free/reduced students?
    • Bags/skins/peripheral devices
    • Refresh cycle – not just a one-time purchase
    • Maintenance costs
    • Batteryreplacement/refresh costs
    • Insurance


Follow-up topics/items/details after the recommendation is made and approved:

  • A rollout plan must be developed
    • One grade at a time? Full implementation?
    • How can we utilize the devices that we currently have within the District?
      • 10+ labs at the high school
      • 6 labs at the middle school

  • Training
    • What is needed for staff?
      • Overlap of PD subcommittee, but needs specific to 1:1 need to be identified
      • Atomic Learning Assessments through the AEA
      • Initial training vs. periodic refresher training
    • What is needed for students?
      • Virus/malware/spyware prevention
      • How to configure for home use
      • Internet safety

  • District Policies
    • Student and staff Acceptable Use Policies (AUP) must be revisited
      • Consequences for inappropriate use of internet, network, email
      • Consequences for misuse or damage of equipment

  • Standardized configuration of devices
    • Software/Media installation - Don’t ask/don’t tell
      • Policy is shouldn’t load
      • Won’t make it practice to check
      • If issues occur, machine will be re-imaged with no effort made to save any changes to the standard configuration

  • Review the use of blocked website in the classroom
    • YouTube
    • Facebook
    • others?

  • Policy regarding backup of student data?
    • District responsibility?
    • Student responsibility?

  • Reserve pool of student devices
    • How many available
    • Check-out/management policy needs to be developed

  • Media communication
    • When to announce the project?
    • Updates along the way?
    • Documentation of success stories?